**Puri:** Shree Jagannath temple priests’ body, Jagannath Sevayat Sammilani have put up posters at various places near Sri Jagannath temple today urging the servitors’ community to boycott Rath Yatra Coordination Committee meeting scheduled on May 2 at Gopabandhu Ayurveda College.
The posters read, “As per the decision taken at a joint meeting of servitors, various Nijoga officials and managing committee held at Koili Baikuntha on 27/04/2017, all the servitors are requested to remain absent at the second meeting of Rath Yatra Coordination Committee meeting”.
Expressing their resentment against the district administration over suspension of some fellow servitors during Niladri Bije last year, the servitor body released the postersmentioning the fact that the incident had hampered the reputation of the servitors’ community globally.
Earlier, the servitors’ body had released the posters on March 28 urging the servitors not to attend the first meeting. According to the poster, the district administration had defamed and hampered the dignity of the sevayat fraternity over the Niladri Bije issue.
Notably, during the Niladri Bije rituals last year, some servitors had an altercation with the Puri Collector, Arvind Agarwal when he confronted the servitors over climbing chariot by a servitor’s kin. The Odisha High Court and Sri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) had prohibited anyone to alight atop the chariots. Moreover, this incident was highlighted in the media which was resented by the servitor community.